Yet another feeding question

I got a ch ball python about a month and a half ago, and he's about 2 months old now. For the first month he destroyed 2 f/t mice a week. Now I'm trying to get him to switch to f/t rat pups, but he will have nothing to do with them. His last mouse and last meal he took was about 2 weeks ago. He's a pretty health weight for his size at 140 grams, but how can I get him to eat rats. I've tried about four or fives times to get him to take one with no success.

You could try scenting a rat with a mouse. You could also try to get it to eat a rat by following the mouse with a rat before it has finished the mouse. In other words when it's about done with the mouse you put the rat right behind the mouse. Most of the time they will just continue eating.

mine didnt have a problem switching but has given me problems eating. Possibly wait it out. If you offer food and the snake won't eat after a couple tries, don't offer for another week. Sometimes close to a shed mine wont eat, other times it will but not too often. I usually wait it out though. Think of it like a kid, if you had a kid who would only eat McDonalds and nothing else, what would you do? keep feeding it McDonalds, or tell it "if you wont eat what is in front of you then you won't eat" things might change.


plus these pythons can go a little while without eating. That was something i had to get used to though, odd not feeding something every day or at least once a week.

keep in mind some snakes will Insist, quite rudely that they will have nothing to do with a certain prey. Balls can fast for months, so you may want to just try a mouse followed by a equal sized rat in a week or so. Just use hemostats to insert the rat into his mouth as he is finishing the mouse. Make sure to not scare him during the eating process though, regurgitated rodents are icky, even if they are pretty fresh. Take it slow and it should be easy enough.
I have mostly given up on my male eating rats for at least this year. he is only hungry for one prey item a week. Some snakes will never change their preferences, it happens, you may just have to be happy if he eats mice well on a regular basis
good luck!

After 3 weeks of no success with trying to convert him to rat pups, I finally just gave him an adult mouse last night. He took it in about 5 seconds. I figure I'll just feed him what he likes for now since he is only 2-3 months old. I'll worry about converting him when he gets bigger. Thanks for all of the suggestions.

if he wont eat rats it wont hurt him . many ball pythons go their whole life eating only mice and are healthy and well adjusted . my male ball python that i got about a month ago was fed nothing but mice for over 3 years . he never even saw a rat till i got him . he is now eating p/k rats but wont take live or f/t . if i couldnt have gotten him on rats i would have just stayed with mice . the way i figure it is , if they are eating at all then feed what they will eat .

I discussed this on another forum. Most ball pythons much prefer the scent and taste of mice over rats, so they generally take them more readily. The nutritional value of rats can be equalled by multiple mice, so it doesn't matter which one your snake prefers. The only reason most keepers prefer rats is convenience...it's easier to feed one rat vs. 2-4 mice. I honestly don't mind taking the time to feed my snakes mice, since they seem to like them a lot better.